Windy But Fishable

Fished with Captain Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the mid 60s and when we quit fishing it was only in the lower 70s. The wind was out of the West Southwest 15 to 25 knots and the waves were 1 to 2 feet with the occasional 3 footer. The water temp is 76 degrees. We fished out in front of Sterling State Park in 19 feet of water (41 55 400 / 083 16 400). We trolled jet 20s set at 55 feet back on one side of the boat and mini disc's set at 80 feet back on the other side of the boat. Daryl got to use the jet releases for the first time today and he definitely likes them. We made one pass from the rocks in front of the Sterling State Park heading towards Stoney Point, made the turn in front of Detroit Beach and we had our fish. Kept 12 walleye and one nice perch for the day. Had 6 walleye that were under size and two of those were only 8 inches long. The wind was blowing pretty hard but we kept it to our backs for most of the troll.

2009 A.W.W.T.

Fished with John Hiltz and Doug Esch in the 9th annual A.W.W.T. out of Toledo Beach Marina. The temperature this morning was in the upper 60s and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 80s. The wind was out of the Northwest less than 5 knots and there were no waves. The water temp is 78 degrees and in the area we were fishing there were some weeds floating on the water. It was so hot today that on one of the boats fishing in today's tournament, the crew went swimming before they came back to the marina. Most of the boats fishing went northeast of Sputnik about 4 miles and started trolling towards the International Buoy. After a couple hours of fishing we started to separate and the majority of the boats were between West Sister Island and Sputnik. We stayed by the International Buoy as did Starfish. The reports on the radio were that Serenity had some nice fish drifting with crawlers between West Sister and Sputnik. Most of the other boats had a few fish but nothing of any size, we had some fish but nothing very big (largest was 17 inches). We were using dipsy's set at 120 feet back on one side of the boat and jet 20s set at 90 feet back on the other. Best spoons were the watermelon and blue huckleberry early on and then we put on a Mi-Hi and that became the hot lure of the day.The lake got flat and it was getting hot so you would think the fishing would slow down. Around 10:45 AM the fishing picked up for us and the size of the fish were improving. We stayed in the general area and started getting some larger fish. The crew felt better because we finally had some decent fish in the cooler. We kept our 18 walleye and had 11 walleye that we put back and decided to head for port for the "measure in". The official results for the A.W.W.T. are as follows.

1st place - Team Bird's Nest - 69 2/8 inches

2nd place - Team Serenity - 63 7/8 inches

3rd place - Team Starfish - 60 5/8 inches

4th place - Team Lucky Strike - 56 3/8 inches

5th place - Team King B

6th place - Team Wally Widetrack

Big fish was caught by Team Bird's Nest - 25 5/8 inches

I want to thank everyone who fished today's event and hoped they all had a great time. The weather was great and the lake was calm, something we have not seen for a while.

Prefishing

Fished with Doug Sowa. Temperature this morning was in the upper 60s and when quit fishing it was in the lower 80s. Summer is finally here. The winds were light out of the North Northeast with waves less than a foot. The water temp is 73 degrees and the Mayfly's are at their peak. We started fishing about 3 miles northeast of Sputnik trolling towards the International Buoy. Did not mark very many fish but we started to catch some so we just stayed in that area (41 51 700 / 083 09 300). Ran jet 20s set at 90 feet back on one side of the boat and dipsy's set at 120 back on the other side. Used the new jet releases that I picked up from Jim at http://www.lakeeriesportfishing.com/ and they worked just great. Best spoon colors were watermelon and blue huckleberry. Kept 9 walleye today and had to return 5 because they were under size.

The Mayflys are Coming

Fished with Captain Daryl and his hunting friend Tony. Temperature this morning was in the upper 50s and it only made it to the lower 60s on the water. The wind was out of the Northeast at 10 knots for the better part of the day. It was cool enough that I had a flannel shirt on most of the day. When we got back to shore the temp was in the lower 80s. The waves were around two feet and the water temp is 67 degrees. The mayfly hatch is starting, which is going to make the fishing tough. We started fishing about two miles east of Sputnik trolling with jet 20s and spoons set from 80 to 90 feet behind the boards. We were marking a few fish but were not catching anything so we trolled towards West Sister Island. It took awhile to find some fish but we finally caught a few walleye northwest of the Island (41 46 115 / 083 07 100). We set the leads back to 95 and 100 feet as we were fishing in deeper water and then we started to catch some fish. Kept 6 walleye for the day.

Damn Northeast Winds

Fished with Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the upper 50s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70s. The wind was out of the Northeast in the morning at 14 knots which made for a bumpy ride out and then it started to switch to the North and the lake laid down. Waves were 2 feet for the ride out and after a hour they were less than a foot. The water temp is 68 degrees and the water is very clean all the way from the harbor to Sputnik. Started fishing about 2 miles east of Sputnik trolling with the waves. We caught a few fish this way and then the lake laid down and we were able to troll where ever we wanted too. Started catching fish at 41 48 700 / 083 09 500 and we just worked that area. We fished with mostly jet 20s set at 85 feet back with spoons that had purple and green. Once we found the fish we caught them pretty fast. Except for the ride out it was just a great day of fishing. We kept 12 walleye between 15 1/2 and 23 inches.

North of West Sister

Fished with Captain Doug. Temperature this morning was in the middle 50s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70s. The wind was out of the West Northwest 10 to 15 knots and the waves were 1 to 2 feet. The water temp is 66 degrees. Started fishing about 3 miles East of Sputnik trolling with the waves using dipsy's and spoons. Caught the first walleye this way and then we changed over to crawlers and started drifting. Picked up 3 more walleye drifting but we also caught a lot of sheep head and white perch. Decided to troll back towards port long lining with spoons. Had one walleye on but lost it so we called it a day. Kept 4 walleye and 2 perch.

Thought We Had a Chance

Fished the Walleye Smackdown Tournament with Captain Daryl and Doug. Temperature this morning was 56 degrees and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 60s. The wind was out of the Southwest at 12 knots in the morning and then started switching to the Northeast and the lake laid down. The water temp is 67 degrees. We fished the same area as yesterday because of the nice fish that we caught there. We ran the same program as yesterday, jet's on one side of the boat and dipsy's on the other. The fishing was just great and by 7:15 in the morning we started to throw back fish that were 17 inches long. As the morning went on we started to throw back fish that were 19 and 20 inches long hoping to catch that one big walleye. We already had 5 nice fish to weigh in but we needed that one big fish to put us over the edge. We never got that big fish but we were happy with the catch that we had. To make a long story short they changed the rules as we were weighing in the fish and it totally screwed us. We only weighed in 4 fish and everyone else weighed in 5 fish. We would not have won the tournament but we would have placed in the top 5. We finished in 12 place out of 20 teams. Oh well, lesson learned. We kept our limit of 18 walleye and we threw back 22 walleye between 17 and 20 inches and two little ones that were under 15 inches. Just a great day of fishing.

Prefishing for Tomorrow

Fished with Daryl and Doug. Temperature this morning was in the middle 40s and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 60s, kind of cold for this time of year. The winds were out of the Northeast for the ride out but then it started to switch and the lake laid down, it turned out to be a nice day on the water. The water temp is 68 degrees. We started fishing just the other side of Sputnik 41 49 250 / 083 10 026 and started catching fish so we just stayed in that general area. We ran dipsy's set at 120 to 130 behind the boards and jet 20s set at 75 to 85 feet behind the boards. Best spoons were cat/dog, boy/girl and Mi-Hi. Once we found the fish it was just great fishing. We kept 18 walleye between 19 and 24 1/2 inches and had only one that we had to put back because it was under size. We have the right spot and the right lures so maybe we will do OK in tomorrows tournament.